Bear Meadows

Join us this coming Sunday afternoon, November 16, at 12 noon for this approximately 5-mile, moderately-difficult hike around the Bear Meadows Natural Area, following North Meadows Road, Sand Spring Path, Bear Meadows Loop, and Jean Aron Path. Total ascent: 400-500 ft.

Most of the route will be flat(ish), firm, and dry, while other parts may be a bit rocky and some patches potentially wet and muddy. The more agile you are, the drier your socks and feet will remain!

The first 2-3 miles, walking upward along the North Meadows Road, is a gated gravel forest road open only to hikers and mountain bikers.

Bear Meadows itself is nearly 900 acres in size. This natural wetland community was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1965. The Natural Area protects a high mountain fen wetland, or bog, a plant community that contains black spruce, red spruce, balsam fir, and highbush blueberry.

While it’s a distinction that will be lost on most non-experts, according to ecologists, fens typically are fed by a steady source of groundwater whereas bogs are usually enclosed depressions filled by rainwater. Bear Meadows has both features, and has been referred to both as a fen and a bog by different sources.

The surrounding forest consists of mixed northern hardwoods (maples, beech, birch) and oak-hickory, as well as dense stands of rhododendron and eastern hemlock.

We will meet at noon at the small parking lot at the intersection of Bear Meadows Road and (gated) North Meadows Road. If this lot is full, there is adequate parking along the right shoulder of Bear Meadows Road just before you reach it.

Coming from State College, turn right onto Bear Meadows Road from Rte. 322 as if going to the Tussey Mountain Ski Area. Pass the ski area and enter Rothrock State Forest. After several miles of gradual ascent, the paved road becomes gravel and the parking area is a mile or two beyond that, on the right side, just as Bear Meadows Road reaches the crest of the saddle through which it passes.